Truman Bethurum

Truman Bethurum (August 21, 1898 – May 21, 1969) was the second of the well known 1950s contactees, individuals who claimed to have spoken with people from other inhabited planets and entered or ridden in their spacecraft. His experiences led him to visit and discuss the issue with George Adamski.

Bethurum was born in Gavalin, California, and in the early 1950s worked as a mechanic on a road-building crew and as a spiritual advisor. In 1953 Bethurum first published magazine and newspaper (Redondo Beach Daily Breeze, September 25, 1953) accounts of being contacted on eleven separate occasions by the human crew of a landed space ship, and repeatedly conversing with its voluptuous female captain, Aura Rhanes. Saucer and crew, who spoke colloquial English, came from the unknown planet Clarion (allegedly on the other side of our moon), which, from the earth, always remains out of sight. A 1954 book, Aboard a Flying Saucer, gave many details of Bethurum's suffering at the hands of skeptics and a great deal of information about Clarion and its people.

Most contactees of this period became (or already were) leaders in new paradigm movements to inform people of extraterrestrial intelligent life, including George Adamski, George Van Tassel, Daniel Fry, George King and many others. Mr Bethurum made it known that the space people had asked him to consider creating a place of learning for those who were interested in considering the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligent life, with Mr Bethurum as facilitator. The Sanctuary of Thought, a philosophical group, was subsequently created near Prescott, Arizona. Mr Bethurum claimed to possess physical evidence such as unique items given to him by Captain Aura Rhanes.

Some of Bethurum's later books include The Voice of the Planet Clarion (1957), Facing Reality (1958), and The People of the Planet Clarion (1970), published after his death in Landers, California in 1969. The first 44 pages of the final book are an autobiography of Bethurum covering his life up to 1953. Columba Krebs wrote the afterword.

Mr Bethurum himself jokingly remarked in his many public lectures that his second wife had divorced him in 1955 mainly due to jealousy of Captain Rhanes. He later married a third time, with the wedding taking place at one of Mr George Van Tassel's popular yearly Giant Rock Spacecraft Conventions.